As of today, she needed to confiscate “when” as well.

Erica’s destination was a certain grocery stall.

“Please be generous and add just 1 copper more.”

“No, I’m already giving you a great deal……”

Even that brief time while Mom haggled with the market vendor over the price of yesterday’s mushrooms felt endlessly long and boring to a young child.

After looking around the grocery stall and getting bored, Eric began to slink toward the next stall, but his mother, who apparently had eyes on the side of her head, called out:

“Eric, don’t go far.”

“Okaaay.”

He seemed to keep that promise for about the count of ten. But before he knew it, Eric found himself crouching in front of the puppy basket, face to face with the old woman.

“Wow, so cute.”

He had only been peering into the basket when the old woman suddenly placed a spotted puppy in Eric’s arms.

“Hello, puppy. Do you like me?”

As the puppy squirmed and burrowed into his arms, it felt so soft and warm. He liked it so much that he felt he could share his portion of meat with it for life.

“Talk to your mom and take one home. Grandma will give you a good price.”

“But our yard is……”

He was about to say it was too small to raise a dog when he heard a strangely familiar voice.

“Wow, so cute.”

When he jerked his head up, Eric came face to face with the “spirit of sunlight” he had met yesterday.

“Oh, you…?”

“Ah!”

The girl seemed to recognize Eric too, as she was about to crouch in front of the puppy basket but flinched and immediately turned to run away.

“Daaaaaad!”

He had been misunderstood again.

Eric returned the puppy to the old woman and stood up.

“Waaaaaaait!”

Then he scurried after the girl.

“If we meet again, I’ll explain that I meant it in a good way to clear up the misunderstanding.”

He clearly remembered what Mom had told him before bed yesterday.

“Eric, don’t go far.”

This, however, he had been completely forgotten.

* * *

“It would be nice if you could add just 1 copper more.”

“Then there would be nothing left for me!”

Nothing left?

Erica’s face hardened as she glanced at the retail price of mushrooms at the stall.

‘Nothing left? Even if you add 1 copper more, you’d still make a 3 copper profit. I picked them myself, cleaned them, and delivered them straight from the source. You have no distribution costs or storage expenses. All you have to do is sell them.’

Erica majored in Gradient Anger in this life too.

‘If giving 1 more copper will ruin your business, then you have no talent for business and should quit!’

If she had been the heiress of a wealthy family in her past life, she could have said such things without hesitation. No, from the beginning, she wouldn’t have had to haggle over a single copper coin.

‘Ah… my life.’

But now she wasn’t a wealthy heiress, just a poor single mother with a child. Erica reminded herself of her circumstances, swallowed her words, softened her hardened face, and forced a delicate smile.

“My child picked these mushrooms one by one with his little hands.”

She had tried to avoid using her child as an excuse because she hated people who did that, but here she was breaking her own resolution. With not even enough money for next month’s rent, she had to sell even the image of her child’s small hands to earn that 1 copper.

“Look how hard he worked, his hands are even injured……”

In reality, the scratches came from turning over rocks as big as his head looking for ant colonies, but this seemed like a good opportunity to show them. She reached out to the side to show his hands, but couldn’t find him.

“…Huh? Where has he gone now?”

* * *

At the same time Erica went looking for Eric, Roderick was also at the same market, stopping a patrol officer to look for someone.

“Her name is Erica, she has pinkish blonde hair, and she’s raising a child.”

“There are many blonde mothers with children in this city… Is the child a girl or a boy?”

“The child……”

Once again, Roderick had to share painful information that would be of no help to the patrol officer.

“I don’t know the child’s gender.”

In fact, he knew nothing. He didn’t know if his child was a girl or a boy, who they resembled, or even if they had been born safely.

Since that day when they missed each other at the mountain inn, he also knew nothing of Erica’s whereabouts. Despite traveling around the country for over four years, he hadn’t met a single person who knew Erica.

“Her name is Erica and……”

The patrol officer stroked his chin, deep in thought. Usually, he would get a flat “haven’t seen her” response.

“Hmm, a woman with a child, with pinkish blonde hair, you said?”

While blonde women with children were common, pinkish blonde hair wasn’t that common.

The officer’s hesitation suggested that perhaps he had seen her, even if only vaguely.

Roderick felt a surge of hope and hastily added more details.

“Yes, the child would be about this child’s age……”

He turned around to show the child hiding behind his legs, but the spot where Elodie had been was empty.

Where did she go?

Roderick’s heart stopped momentarily before starting to beat again. Elodie hadn’t gone far. She was tiptoeing toward a stall across the street.

Yip yip.

“Hello, puppy. Do you like me?”

He could hear the whimpering of a puppy and the voice of a boy petting it. Elodie apparently wanted to play with the puppy like the boy.

She probably wouldn’t throw a tantrum asking him to buy it. Even at her young age, she understood her circumstances better than anyone.

Born in an inn. Raised in inns. The child who had unexpectedly spent her life moving from one inn to another didn’t have what other children took for granted.

Because she had things other children didn’t have.

“Wow, so cute.”

He had decided not to stop her and let her play with the puppy out of sympathy, but for some reason, the child suddenly turned pale and ran back to Roderick.

“Daaaaaad!”

Elodie whispered as she hid behind his legs.

“It’s that boy from yesterday.”

“The boy who asked if Elodie was a spirit?”

Elodie nodded, clutching his pant leg tightly with both hands.

He couldn’t possibly have known anything.

Roderick shifted his gaze from Elodie to face the boy. And like Elodie, he turned pale.

“A boy with black hair like Dad’s and bright blue eyes.”

Could it be?

Eric ran across the street and stopped in front of the man who was apparently the girl’s father.

“Hello, mister.”

Then, remembering the manners his mother always taught him, he greeted the adult first with a loud voice, but strangely, the man didn’t respond.

He just stared blankly at Eric, as if he hadn’t fully woken up.

Anyway, Eric’s business wasn’t with the man but with the girl. After smoothing down his hair that had become disheveled from running, he waved to the girl hiding behind the man.

“Hello, I’m Eric.”

“…Eric?”

But it was the man, not the girl, who echoed his name.

“Yes, that’s my name.”

Since an adult had asked, Eric promptly answered and then tried to speak to the girl again.

“What’s your name? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Mom says if a girl doesn’t like something… Mom says… Ah, what did Mom say?”